Poll: Murray trails Rossi, Didier

In head-to-head matchups with the Democrat, Dino Rossi and Clint Didier both had 48 percent to Murray’s 45 percent.

The survey of 750 likely voters was taken July 14. The margin of error was 4 pecent, so technically Murray, Rossi and Didier are tied, but the result will be sure to raise eyebrows. Rasmussen surveys have been criticized in the past for overstating support for GOP candidates (Polling geeks concerned about this can check out the analysis by Nate Silver from FiveThirtyEight here).

More from Rasmusssen:

Male voters prefer the Republican in every matchup, while female voters lean toward the Democrat.

Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Rossi leads by slightly better than two-to-one. Didier fares nearly as well, with Akers ahead but not as strongly in this group.

Support for last year’s $787-billion economic stimulus plan which Murray supported is higher in Washington than it is nationally with voters in the state closely divided over whether it helped or hurt the economy. But even in Washington, only 30% think the increased spending in the stimulus plan created new jobs, while 52% disagree and say it did not create any new jobs.

By a 58% to 25% margin, voters in the state say cutting taxes is a better way to create jobs than increasing government spending.